Staff Appreciation Week was an opportunity for members of the Council of Classified Employees/AFT Local 4522 to come together, learn and connect with colleagues. CCE members also collected canned food and other donations to fill the college’s Basic Needs Center for students, employees and the community at large.
Click to watch this powerful video from members about their long fought win
For 30 years, the Lawndale Elementary School District denied their part-time classified employees health benefits. The District scheduled part-timers so they were always a few minutes short of the ACA requirement to provide health benefits.
“At 28.5 hours a week, we were close enough to smell the Band-aids, but not close enough to put one on,” said President Carl Williams of AFT Local 4529, the Lawndale Federation of Classified Employees.
That chapter is ending. After years of activism and organizing – and a more receptive school superintendent – about 75 part-time staff will begin receiving medical benefits during the 2023-24 school year.
The economic crisis hit El Camino College staff hard, and many received notices of 10% increases in rent as soon as eviction moratoriums ended.
"Five union members have told me they live in their cars, and another member was picking cans out of the campus trash cans to buy medicine for his children,” said Local 6142 President Roy Dietz. “That’s humbling, to tell someone about the state you’re in.”
Relief is on the way.
Dietz and the classified bargaining team negotiated a new contract for 262 members that will raise monthly base salaries nearly 25% by 2025. The district also continues to increase support for staff medical plans.
Key legislation passed through the California Assembly in June, advancing to the State Senate for consideration later this summer.
AB 938 increases base funding under the Local Control Funding Formula by 50% to support a 50% raise in TK-12 salaries. The Assembly passed the CFT-sponsored bill by a unanimous 77-0 vote.
AB 1699 prohibits school districts from retaliating against classified staff for refusing or accepting a vacancy. The bill gives employees at least 10 days to apply for a position before the job opens to the public.
CFT’s outgoing Secretary Treasurer was the first classified CFT member to receive the Ben Rust Award. Smith retired July 1.
Following are excerpts of a farewell she posted on Facebook:
“In 2001, I was elected president of the El Camino Classified Employees local, and served for 16 years. I was then elected president of the CFT Council of Classified Employees for two years, and as CFT Secretary-Treasurer for the last four years.
My successes were always a collective effort. It took a village to raise Luukia Smith and get me to retirement. I love you guys!!!”
Negotiations at Antelope Valley College went late into the night on June 22, when AVC Superintendent Jennifer Zellet and AFT Local 4683 President Pamela Ford put the last touches on a contract for 240 members of the Antelope Valley College Federation of Classified Employees.
Salaries were the main issue at the table. Staff will receive a retroactive raise and increases.
The district will increase contributions to employee benefits, retroactive to October 2022.
Members of the Coast Federation of Classified Employees voted unanimously at their spring meeting for a new name and look. “Employees” is now “Professionals” – in line with the CFT approach – and a Local 4794 task force created a new logo.
Hundreds of AFT PSRPs gathered in Baltimore this spring for the 45th annual conference. The theme – “This Is How We Do It” – was fitting. Paras and school-related personnel kept lessons flowing and children fed throughout the Covid pandemic.
“We had a lot of new people, which was very exciting,” said Tina Solórzano Fletcher, Southern California Vice President of the Council of Classified Employees.
California was well represented, with 26 CFT members from seven locals across the state.
CFT's Back to School Tour is around the corner. Interested in your local participating?
For more information and to arrange a tour stop in your local union, please contact CFT Training Director Christopher Arellano
CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals
Jeffery M. Freitas, President
Luukia Smith, Secretary Treasurer
L. Lacy Barnes, Senior Vice President
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Classified Insider, Fall 2021 | Volume 11, Number 1
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